› added 4 years ago

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TIL of Jewel Shuping, a woman with normal eyesight, but who yearned to be blind. She eventually found a psychologist who was willing to help her in her quest. He dripped drain cleaner into her eyes, and 6 months later, she got her wish and completely lost her sight.

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o8kr TIL that engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab have developed a next-generation prosthetic: a robotic arm that has 26 joints, can curl up to 45 pounds and is controlled with a person’s mind just like a regular arm.
Wk9JN TIL that after beating an unarmed Charles Sumner on the Senate floor with a cane, Preston Brooks challenged Massachusetts Representative Anson Burlingame to a duel. Burlingame, who was a well-known marksman, immediately accepted and choose rifles as the weapon. Brooks neglected to show up.
mxvPx TIL that marketing firm Exactis leaked over 340 million records of personal information on public unprotected servers (data including but not limited to age and gender of children, addresses, pets, smoking habits, etc) and this breach affects nearly every single American.
WoWB TIL Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece Starry Night depicts the view outside his sanitarium window, and that he was not impressed with the now beloved work
D1Knj TIL in 1518 parts of the Holy Roman Empire were struck by a "dancing plague", in which many people danced in the streets for months straight without rest. Many died from physical exertion. The exact cause is unknown.